Pretty Little Liars star Troian Bellisario as she opens up to Seventeen magazine to talk about her past eating disorder.

The February cover girl tells the mag it wasn’t for trying to look good for the cameras and casting agents, it was for school.

“I started self-harming when I was a junior,” she said. “I would withhold food or withhold going out with my friends, based on how well I did that day in school… I didn’t know what was right and what was wrong, so I think I created this bizarre system of checks and balances to create order in my world. But it really backfired.”

Since the news broke, Bellisario told E! she made the choice to be honest with the public because she knew being the cover girl of Seventeen would require her to answer very personal questions.

“I don’t really know if it’s the best thing for me [to be so honest]… I had to make the choice of do I just completely lie and say my life was great and totally perfect?” she said. “Is it going to help the men and women who watch my the show who are 17? is that going to help? Or is [it] gonna be better for me to be honest and do something a little bit scarier and try to talk a little bit about that? I kinda made a choice and now I’m going with it.”

We, for one, think it was an incredibly brave thing to have done. We’re sure Bellisario’s honesty will help many other girls struggling with similar experiences.

To see more photos from this Pretty Liar’s photo shoot, go to seventeen.com.

Kalyna Taras is a university student who spends her time watching TV, talking about TV and writing about TV. You can follow her on twitter (@thekalynataras) and on instagram (@kalynataras).